HOMILY: Red Mass, St Mary's Cathedral

The annual Red Mass to mark the beginning of the new legal year in Scotland took place yesterday at St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Members of the legal fraternity took part in the traditional procession before Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Leo Cushley. His homily is published below. (Pics: @jamiejkerr).

Homily

My dear friends,

A renewed word of welcome to the senators and sheriffs and all those of the Scots legal profession who have joined us for worship today, praying for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as the legal year begins in these days.

Today, we also welcome from the United States justices, judges, attorneys, solicitors and legal academics, from places including the Carolinas, Delaware and Minnesota, who are visiting Scotland, not just for the golf and the fishing, although there may be some of that too; but their main purpose is to connect with colleagues in a sister legal system during visits to our Parliament House here in Edinburgh, the Advocates’ Library and other places at the heart of Scots legal institutions.

You are all very welcome, and I hope you have a very happy stay with us.

As some of you may know, three days ago, I celebrated my tenth anniversary as your archbishop.

I happened to do it on the same day as a private audience with the Holy Father, a pure coincidence, but a happy one.

As most of you know, I left working for Pope Francis to come here as bishop after a total of sixteen years, on and off, spent in Rome.

As a city, it’s a place I know almost better than anywhere else, even Edinburgh, and as you might expect, it’s one of my favourite cities.

But there’s another city just a couple of hours north of it, that is also a great favourite of mine, called Siena.

It is a beautiful place, and I highly recommend it to you for a visit.

It’s a city almost arrested in time, because in 1348, plague struck Siena when it was at the height of its civic and commercial success, and a long twilight of the city began, as it fell gradually under the shadow of its big neighbour Florence, which gradually emerged as the greater city.

That means the centre of Siena today is much as it was in the 14th century.

But while 14th century Edinburgh was probably not a very easy place to be, Siena was at the height of its power, wealthy, beautiful, prosperous.

Its town centre, called the Campo, is still an enormous, handsome space even by today’s standards.  S

haped like a capital D, the famous horse races of the Palio still take place there in the summer, a wonderful spectacle and a centre of civic pride and colour.

And in the Campo there is still the palazzo pubblico, the city hall from that period, a magnificent civic building and tower that dominate the city and its skyline.

For the times, they had a fairly enlightened participative government.

The people of Siena took their politics seriously, they took their laws seriously and they took their Christian faith seriously, and the combination of these three threads made a stout cord that wound the people together in a consensus about what was good and what was bad.

This can be seen in the decoration of the main debating chamber of the palazzo pubblico.

It is covered from floor to ceiling in beautiful affreschi, but what they chose to depict is what interests us here.

There you will find the Allegory of Good and Bad Government, a wonderful set of paintings from 1339 by Ambrogio Lorenzetti.

The figure of Bad Government is depicted as a man, a tyrant, rather like the devil, with the figures of Avarice, Pride and Vainglory to guide him.

Beside him on a bench sit figures like Cruelty, while the figure of Justice is bound and gagged at his feet.

On the opposite wall, meantime, Good Government is shown as a man clothed in black and white, the colours of the city of Siena.

Over his head fly Faith, Hope and Charity - not Avarice, Pride and Vainglory.

Beside Siena sits the figure of Peace at one end of the bench, and Justice at the other; and flanking the city are Magnanimity, Temperance, Prudence, and Fortitude.

We see the citizens of Siena walking with the figure of Concorde, in harmony, obviously, and they live in a well-built city, with sound walls protecting everyone, fields ready for harvest, commerce taking place peacefully, and happy children playing safely.

Over all this sits the figure of Wisdom on high, with her balance, meeting out justice and mercy.

When I was studying the law, I recall how justice (iustitia) was compared to law (lex), as if justice was something we humans could never quite attain.

Justice belonged to an ideal, it was like an eternal truth; all we humans could hope to do was to come up with an ever-shifting approximation of it, in laws (leges, lex), things that were written down, like the Romans’ Twelve Tables.

Humans were to do their utmost to approach the eternal ideal, but such laws were always in need of vigilance, fair application, and occasional review and reform, so that they might remain as close to Justice’s ideal as possible.

The peoples of the ancient world knew and understood this well.

The people of the Christian world knew and understood this too.

And so too it is in the Siena fresco. As I said, the figure representing the city of Siena has watching over him Faith, Hope and Charity.

These are what are usually called the Christian virtues, and beside him sit the “natural” virtues of temperance and prudence and fortitude.

When these things become laws, and when they are accepted by the people and regularly maintained by the state, the peace and the prosperity of the land follow.

But if Pride and Avarice and Vanity sit in their place, and become guides to our citizens and our politicians, then we must all beware, because all will suffer.

Our first reading today is one of those occasions when the reading of the day speaks very eloquently to our occasion here.

This passage Isaiah 55 says directly to all of us, “Seek the Lord while he is still to be found, call to him while he is still near.  Let the wicked man abandon his way, the evil man his thoughts”.

This is a plea to turn back to the Lord, who will hear us and who will help us to repair what we have broken or lost in our pride and our vanity.

It is also a call to look to the betterment of laws, so that they do not remain merely leges, lex, law, but strive better to approach the true, eternal justice that they aim to imitate.

Isaiah then says, “Let [the evil man] turn back to the Lord who will take pity on him, to our God who is rich in forgiving; for my thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways not your ways”.

The Lord is willing to take us back, but we must approach this subject, so often out of our reach, with with great care and humility.  As if to make us “put back” the blithe spirits of faith, hope and charity over our polity, the Lord then says through Isaiah, “Yes, the heavens are as high above earth as my ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts”.

So today, my friends, we remind ourselves of the great and important work of the distinguished people we see here before us.

We remind ourselves how they serve our society by the just application of the laws of the land.

We pray for them and for the legislators who create the laws to be applied; and above all we pray that, in order to have a society truly blessed by justice and peace, and magnanimity and prudence and temperance and fortitude, the members of the judiciary, here present, will be guided by the greatest wisdom of all, the sophia of the Holy Spirit in their work of behalf of all the whole people.

May the Holy Spirit guide you and keep you all in the coming year.  Thank you for listening, and God bless you!

WATCH: Mgr Burke previews special October event

A special series of talks takes place at St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh in October. Register here.

In this video Mgr Patrick Burke takes a deep dive into the background and aim of the event: to help bring us closer to Jesus, by exploring the Gospel of Mark.

Vote casts doubt on council commitment to faith schools

Faith groups have called into doubt Edinburgh City Council's commitment to faith schools after councillors voted to remove longstanding voting rights of religious representatives.

It is understood that the SNP, Liberal Democrats and Green Party voted to remove the rights of the reps on the Education, Children and Families Committee, while Labour and the Conservatives voted to retain them.

Deputations and other written statement were made at today's meeting in the City Chambers from concerned faith groups - Catholic, Church of Scotland, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and the Interfaith Community.

It also included speeches from pupils from St Thomas Aquin's High School and St Peter's Primary School.

'Troubling message'

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh said: “Councillors at Edinburgh City Council have ended a prosperous partnership that has existed between the Catholic community and the State since 1918 discarding decades of goodwill in the process, only a few years after the Scottish Government proclaimed it was an ‘unequivocal’ supporter of our Catholic schools.

"We have worked together in a spirit of openness and transparency with the Council, which ensured we had an active voice in the running of Catholic schools.

"Today's decision by councillors sends a clear and troubling message not just to Catholics, but to people of all faiths in Edinburgh.”

Margaret Barton and Melissa Gavan, the Religious Education Advisors for the Archdiocese, said: "The Church Representative for the Archdiocese represents the constituency of all those families who send their children to Catholic schools.

"Having the vote was very important in contributing to the good management of all schools in Edinburgh but particularly the Catholic schools entrusted to the management of the local authorities.

"If you add up the number of families who are stakeholders in Catholic schools, that is a very significant proportion of people in Edinburgh.

"So this is a disappointing decision by councillors to remove the right for the religious representatives to vote on educational matters."

In Quotes

"Across Edinburgh many families, including many families from the Sikh community choose to send their children to faith schools. To deprive Faith Representatives of voting rights on the ‘Education, Children and Families Committee’ where they sit on behalf of parents, children and young people, casts into serious doubt the commitment of some of our elected representatives to the future of faith schools in Edinburgh."

- Wege Singh, EIFA, Guru Nanak Gurdwara (Sikh Community)

"We urge the Education, Children, and Families Committee to thoughtfully weigh the potential consequences of a decision that might inadvertently marginalize the voices of faith communities. Let us ensure that Faith Representatives retain their role as advocates for parents, children, and young individuals, thereby contributing to a comprehensive and enriching educational experience."

- Habib Rauf, Imam, Central Mosque, Edinburgh (Muslim Community)

We would like to express our concerns regarding the recent decision to deprive faith representatives of voting rights on the Education, Children, and Families Committee. The participation of faith representatives in committee decisions is essential for safeguarding the rights and interests of parents, children, and young people who are part of faith-based schools.

- Richa Sinha, Chairperson - Scottish Hindu Foundation

"We are also concerned that behind this move to take faith community rights away is a strong anti-faith community agenda hidden by the cloak of standing up for democracy, which is deeply concerning to us all."

- Iain Stewart, Joe Golbatt, Nasim Azad, Edinburgh Interfaith Association

"Our schools have been entrusted to you, by us, for the benefit of our portion of the community. It is only right and just that we retain, not a veto, not a special
voice, not special treatment, but simply an active voice in council, over the governance of a part of our heritage that is presently in your care."

- Archbishop Leo Cushley, St Andrews & Edinburgh (Catholic Community)

"It is with considerable regret that we find it hard not to see this matter as a thin edge of a wedge whose aim is to remove representation altogether. This we believe is likely to damage significantly the relationship and respect we believe is important on several ecumenical and Interfaith fronts across our city."

- The Very Revd Derek Browning, Minister of Morningside, Church of Scotland

Quotes from deputations submitted to Edinburgh City Council and can be read in full here.

VOTING RIGHTS: Message to councillors

This Thursday (31 August) councillors at Edinburgh City Council will vote on a Motion to remove the voting rights of Church Representatives on its Education, Children & Families Committee.

Archbishop Cushley will give a deputation to councillors on behalf of Catholics in the city, which is published below.

Thanks to everyone who has supported our campaign and contacted their councillor(s) asking them to vote against the motion.

Deputation - Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews & Edinburgh

Thank you for this opportunity to address the Council.

Let me start my remarks with a little history.

The Education Scotland Act of 1872 made elementary education for all children between the age of 5 and 13 mandatory in Scotland.

In those days, Scotland was predominantly Presbyterian and, put briefly, that meant Catholics faced the choice of either sending their children to effectively Protestant schools, or educating them in their own schools.

So, they set up their own schools and, poor as they were, collected money to build and staff them.

The pennies of the poor built and paid for those schools, and they did fairly well, but they couldn’t match the state’s resources.

Today, in the City of Edinburgh, there are 15 Catholic primary schools and three Catholic high schools. They are open to everyone who wishes to use them.

Catholic schools began to lag behind those of the state sector.

And since Catholics were paying taxes for schools they didn’t use, this started to look like an inconsistency, even an injustice.

In 1890, school fees were abolished in state schools, but the Catholics kept paying for their own schools.

The Education Scotland Act of 1918 changed all that, by inviting Catholic schools into the state system.

This was described at the time by the Secretary of State for Scotland, a Protestant, as an act of social justice.

Today, in the City of Edinburgh, there are 15 Catholic primary schools and three Catholic high schools.

They are open to everyone who wishes to use them.

If we are a diverse and inclusive society, that must mean space for faith schools, be they Episcopalian, Presbyterian or Catholic, to say nothing of other faiths.

They are appreciated and treasured for what they are, and for the way they look after and promote the good of young people, no matter their faith.

This may explain why 20% of the population in Scotland uses Catholic schools, while Catholics are about 15% of the population.

Common Good

Our schools continue to be a significant part of our identity, and of our contribution to the common good.

Why all the history?  Because, Councillors, Catholic schools in Scotland are a part of the heritage of the Catholic community here, and they were entrusted in 1918 to the state, presently represented by you.

Archbishop Cushley with some of the religious representatives who represent the Archdiocese across different local authoritues.

Having entrusted this estate to you, for us not to have an active voice in council in matters touching upon Catholic schools makes no sense to us, unless there is another agenda at hand, such as one that is inimical to faith, be it in schools or elsewhere in the public square.

If we are a diverse and inclusive society, that must mean space for faith schools, be they Episcopalian, Presbyterian or Catholic, to say nothing of other faiths.

That Church representatives have had the right to vote in council until now has remained unremarked and unremarkable for many years, because it is an expression of democracy.

It is only right and just that we retain, not a veto, not a special voice, not special treatment, but simply an active voice in council, over the governance of a part of our heritage that is presently in your care.

I would also ask, has everyone with a vote in government been elected? If we look to the House of Lords, we find 781 people all unelected, and all but one of the parties on this Council has members there.

If you wish to take away our vote today, perhaps your colleagues in the Lords should resign too.  Perhaps those sitting in Holyrood, thanks to the list system, would like to do the same.

My point is that our democracy has found various solutions in its search for participative government.

And I believe the Church reps’ vote is an example of that, and a good one.

Ultimately, however, for the people I represent, this is a question of trust placed in your hands by the Catholics of this city, and I don’t believe the presence or voting of Church representatives in council has given any motive for concern that I am aware of.

Our schools have been entrusted to you, by us, for the benefit of our portion of the community.

It is only right and just that we retain, not a veto, not a special voice, not special treatment, but simply an active voice in council, over the governance of a part of our heritage that is presently in your care.

Voting rights for Church Reps in city

Parishioners and parents in Edinburgh are being asked to contact their councillors to prevent the removal of voting rights for Church Representatives.

Councillors at the City of Edinburgh Council will vote on a motion (addendum) which proposes the removal of voting rights of Church Representatives on its Education, Children and Families Committee later this month.

If this motion is carried it will pose a serious threat to the capacity of the Church to influence decisions regarding Catholic education and Catholic schools in Edinburgh. 

Positive contribution

Angela Campbell, the Church Rep for the Catholic Church in Edinburgh (third from right front row in below pic), said: "In my role I'm supporting and representing the parents who choose to send their children to the 18 schools in the city.

Archbishop Cushley (centre) with education reps for the Archdiocese.

"Having the vote on matters which impact young people in the Catholic schools in Edinburgh is very important as it allows me to make a democratic and positive contribution to the decision making process on educational matters."

We believe that the current setup is fair and reasonable and gives us a voice.

Archbishop Leo Cushley said: "Angela's role ensures that the faith community has a say in decisions which affect our schools.

"It's an important job, so to remove her right to vote means she can't do that job effectively.

"We believe that the current setup is fair and reasonable and gives us a voice.

"Our request to councillors is not to remove the voice of faith communities so that we can continue to work with Edinburgh City Council in a spirit of openness and transparency and friendship."

What to do

Postcard

Here is the postcard that will be available at all parishes in Edinburgh this weekend.

Watch the video on this issue above or on YouTube.

Homily: Annual Festival Mass at St Mary's Cathedral

Today we welcomed His Excellency Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía, Apostolic Nuncio for Great Britain, to the Annual Festival Mass at St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh.

He was joined by Archbishop Leo Cushley and dignitaries from across the city.

Homily

Homily of Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews & Edinburgh. Festival Mass, St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral, Edinburgh , Sunday 13 August 2023

My dear friends,

A warm welcome to St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral as the 76th Edinburgh International Festival takes place in our city.

I’m very pleased to welcome the Right Honourable Robert Aldridge, Lord Lieutenant and Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh, the Baileys and Councillors from the major parties, the High Constables, and distinguished representatives of the City’s Consular Corps.

It is an honour to have you among us, and to salute our friends in the family of nations whom you represent and serve in Scotland.

I also have the honour to welcome our Episcopalian friends, Bishop John Armes of Edinburgh, and Bishop Kevin Pearson of Glasgow & Galloway.  You are both most welcome here.

In particular, we have the honour of welcoming today His Excellency the Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain, my friend and colleague Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía (below left).

Archbishop Maury is no stranger to the UK, but this is his first official visit to Scotland as the Pope’s ambassador to the Court of St James’s, and we are delighted, Excellency, that you have chosen to start here in Edinburgh and to grace with your presence.  May I now ask you to lead us in worship.

These days are among the highlights of the civic year here in Edinburgh.

As the Lord Provost (below) and Councillors present well know, running a city is not just about fixing the roads and emptying the bins, although we all like both things done timeously, and appreciate everything you do in those and many other directions.

But sometimes, we need to lift our eyes from the day-to-day, the work at hand, and as it says in Exodus, “rise up and play”.  And this is something that the City of Edinburgh has been doing with evident gusto since the Edinburgh International Festival began in 1947.

As we have been reminded again these day by the release of the movie Oppenheimer, at the end of the second World War, the world was still a very precarious place, where the peace of 1945 was starting to turn into a darker struggle that became the Cold War.

Most of us here remember personally how this played out in the second half of the last century, and how, at length, the Cold War drew to a close, and the beginnings of what we all hopefully named a “peace dividend” started to emerge.

I remember, less than 20 years ago, amid the optimism of globalisation, seeing signs in the United Nations in New York declaring that it would take $50bn to fix world poverty.

That seemed an incredible sum and an impossibly far-off goal. But since the Financial crisis, and then Covid, many Governments all over the world have found $50bn to spend with alacrity.

Yet peace and prosperity remain elusive, war is no farther away, and while the stats tell us that developing countries and their people have got richer in the last thirty years, it still doesn’t feel like our generation has made things much better.

To this rather mixed picture, we must add that none of us thought to see a land war in Europe in our lifetime. Europe, and the concert of nations in general, is still in search of peace.

I believe one of the intentions of Rudolph Bing, founder of the Edinburgh International Festival, was to find an antidote to war, to selfishness, to the institutionalized, official, legalised disregard for human dignity and worth.                                                                                       

In the Edinburgh Festival he and its co-founders wished to remind us of the better angels of our nature, and to draw our attention to something better, purer, higher.

As I have had occasion to say before, the Edinburgh International Festival is, at its best, a festival of the human spirit.  At its best, it is a celebration of beauty, and beauty draws us out of ourselves and inspires us.

We can’t always articulate it, but we know it when we see it.  Beauty in something outside ourselves helps us see that it’s not always about us; in fact, it’s a better, healthier place to be when we’re drawn out of ourselves, when we are thinking about the other, when we’re looking out for each other.

And the dignity and worth of every human being, no matter or what they may be, is at the solemn, essential heart of the Edinburgh International Festival.

Fun is fun, but there is a bigger picture, a meta-narrative that we mustn’t lose sight of, as we enjoy the arts and the music and the theatre around us.

Bing, a Jewish German refugee who fled to this country to escape the Nazis, founded the Festival with the city authorities in the wake of the atrocities of the Second World War, to put the human person and everything that is noble in our spirit, back at the heart of things.

The Festival’s deeper significance is that it’s about pushing back the extremists and the nihilists; it’s about putting the human person, and the beauty that we can achieve, back at the centre of our attention, and allowing a little grace build on our modest and broken nature.

It’s about taking back our stolen dignity and worth.  It’s about denying the field to the ideologues, the fatalists, the extremists, the people who don’t believe in humanity.

And the need for the Festival’s positive, gentle energy should be clear, as we look at what is happening again in the family of nations, especially in Ukraine, but elsewhere too.

As we give thanks for the many blessings that have come to the city every year through these celebrations, we take a moment to recall that that the Edinburgh International Festival is at its best when it is faithful to its founder's vision, and when it promotes and respects the dignity and worth of the human person; it is successful, not only when there are millions of happy visitors, but also when we let it be true to itself: a Festival of all that is best in our broken, but blessed and grace-filled human spirit.

All images: Paul McSherry.

Reflection Day for Diploma in Catechetics Students

A day for students taking our Diploma in Catechetics to get together to pray and learn more about the Catholic faith in a relaxed informal setting. Time to be confirmed.

VACANCY: Director of Property (full-time)

The Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh is seeking to appoint a Director of Property to provide management and oversight of all church properties within the Archdiocese and also of Mount Vernon Cemetery.

The role holder should have significant property-related experience with relevant qualifications and training in a related discipline such as surveying, architecture or engineering.

The role is multi-faceted and will be both strategic and hands on. Strong communication skills, organisational skills and initiative will be key to success in the role, as will experience of managing a small team.

To apply, please send your CV and a cover letter detailing how your skills and experience make you suitable for this role to recruitment@staned.org.uk by Thursday 29 June 2023. Interviews are scheduled to take place on Thursday 6 July 2023.

Job details

Location: 100 Strathearn Rd, Edinburgh, EH9 1BB.
Hours: Full time, 35 hours a week, Mon- Fri .
Salary: £45-£48k, dependent on qualifications/experience.

Main purpose and scope of role

Line management

Key relationships

Key responsibilities

Parishes

Leased Properties

Sales

Gillis Centre, Edinburgh

Mount Vernon Cemetery, Edinburgh     

Other property work or projects

Qualifications/Knowledge:

Experience:

Skills & Ability:

Mini-Course: Searching for Jesus in the Gospel of Mark

Professor James Edwards, a fascinating speaker and a leading biblical scholar from USA, will lead a five-day mini course for those who are searching for Jesus.

Using the Gospel of Mark as his base, Prof. Edwards will show how Jesus fits into the history of first century Palestine, and using literature and archaeology from the period will help those who are looking for Jesus to find and encounter him. Get your ticket here.

Prof Edwards

James Edwards is a native of Colorado.

He speaks in church, conference, and community settings, for two decades he was Contributing Editor at Christianity Today.

He has authored more than one hundred articles, both scholarly and popular, and New Testament commentaries for Community Bible Study.

His books have been translated into Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, and German.

He also has led a dozen study tours to Israel, Turkey, and Greece. He was named to the North Dakota Humanities Council for his studies on the Holocaust.

He has received teaching and research awards from Sears-Roebuck, Templeton Award in Science and Religion, German Academic Exchange Service, Pew-Gordon, and Membership in the Centre of Theological Inquiry, Princeton. At Jamestown and Whitworth, he received awards from both faculty and students for teaching excellence.

Get your ticket here.

 

Mini-Course: Searching for Jesus in the Gospel of Mark

Professor James Edwards, a fascinating speaker and a leading biblical scholar from USA, will lead a five-day mini course for those who are searching for Jesus.

Using the Gospel of Mark as his base, Prof. Edwards will show how Jesus fits into the history of first century Palestine, and using literature and archaeology from the period will help those who are looking for Jesus to find and encounter him. Get your ticket here.

Prof Edwards

James Edwards is a native of Colorado.

He speaks in church, conference, and community settings, for two decades he was Contributing Editor at Christianity Today.

He has authored more than one hundred articles, both scholarly and popular, and New Testament commentaries for Community Bible Study.

His books have been translated into Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, and German.

He also has led a dozen study tours to Israel, Turkey, and Greece. He was named to the North Dakota Humanities Council for his studies on the Holocaust.

He has received teaching and research awards from Sears-Roebuck, Templeton Award in Science and Religion, German Academic Exchange Service, Pew-Gordon, and Membership in the Centre of Theological Inquiry, Princeton. At Jamestown and Whitworth, he received awards from both faculty and students for teaching excellence.

Get your ticket here.